DORAL, Fla. — The running joke around the media center was that there are some members of the press who’d played more golf than Adam Scott this year.

Kidding aside, this week’s World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship is just the third start of the year for the Australian.

Rust apparently wasn’t a factor, though. Scott shot a 6-under 66 to share the lead after the first round.

“I played a lot of tournaments all around the world for 10 years,” said Scott, who tied for 17th in L.A. and was eliminated in the first round of last month’s World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. “That takes its toll. When you’re 21 it’s pretty easy to fly around the world non-stop and just go play and do everything you want to do, but it’s different when you’re 31. So it catches up with you a little bit.”

Which explains, at least in part, why Scott spent a month at home in Australia during the offseason after having his tonsils taken out.

The time away from the game not only helped Scott physically but mentally.

”It’s been a long time since I had spent some quality time back at home,” said Scott, who had five birdies, an eagle and just one bogey Thursday at TPC Blue Monster at Doral. “If you starve a guy of playing a little bit, he’ll be desperate to compete. He’ll find a way to get in the mix.

“I’m playing good; it’s hard not to play every week. But just starve me a little bit and I’ll find my way into contention.”

Scott certainly did that last year, finishing in the top 10 seven times while winning once. He also contended in the Masters and the PGA Championship.

Now he’s hoping to take what he learned from last year and apply it to this one.

“I learned to trust my own instincts again,” Scott said. “I was a good player when I was a junior, and I just played. I just pulled a club and hit it.

“There’s so much information and so much stuff going on … you’ve got to find the real answer inside, and not for other people and not for other reasons other than what you really want. I think that’s how you get the best out of your game.”